Something to Celebrate
by Ari Moriarty
Summary: Birthdays tend to bring out our best behavior. Prequel/Companion stories to "Dreamgirl." Lots of fluff.
1. One: May 16, 2011

**Author's Note: **So, it was brought to my attention by certain readers that Adachi and Nanako don't have a strong enough relationship in Persona 4 to justify some of her decisions in **Dreamgirl.**

No, I disagree. They totally did. Watch, I'm going to prove it to you over the course of a few short stories about birthdays!

**One – May 16, 2011**

Six year old Nanako Dojima woke up that morning with a plan and a fiercely determined feeling in her heart. Today, she told herself, was going to be an absolutely wonderful day, and she was going to make sure of it.

Jumping out of bed, she found her favorite dress and her favorite ribbons, and hurried down the stairs. Dad, of course, was already gone. Nanako reminded herself not to be disappointed about that. After all, it was a busy time for Dad, who was trying to catch a killer and save the town! Breakfast just wasn't as important as that other stuff.

Nanako made some quick eggs for herself, and put the rest in the fridge, just in case Dad thought that breakfast was important again tomorrow.

School that day dragged on. Normally, Nanako really enjoyed school, and she loved the way her pretty teacher, Miss Endo, made everything seem fun and make sense at the same time. The other kids in Nanako's class were friendly and fun to talk to, and that made school even more of a treat.

Today, however was different. Today, Nanako was on a mission. School only made her feel impatient.

After school, she ran to the store as fast as she could, with all the money in her pocket that she'd saved in her piggy bank since May 16th the year before. She shook it out into the store clerk's hand, and he helped her count it carefully.

"You have 672 yen," the store clerk told her, handing the money back. "That's a lot of money! You must be pretty careful with money."

Nanako beamed at him. "Every time I find a penny, I put it in my bank," she told him proudly. "And every time Dad lets me have a little bit of money for candy, or for treats, I save that and put it in my bank, too." _Six hundred and seventy two! _ she thought. _That's a really big number! Wow! I'm so glad!_

The store clerk turned around, and gestured to rows and rows of delicious looking bakery items. "Well," he asked, smiling, "What's it gonna be, little lady? You sure you want to spend all of that money on sweets?"

Nanako was sure. Right in the center of all the other goodies, standing up tall, proud, and beautiful like a queen, was the biggest, prettiest frosted birthday cake, with strawberries all layered on top. "Mmhmm," she told the clerk, nodding. "I want to buy that one!" She pointed at the birthday cake.

The clerk followed her finger with his eyes, and his face fell. "Sorry, sweetheart," he said, shaking his head. "That one's a little more than you can afford…its 700 yen."

Nanako blinked at him. "I…I don't have enough?" she asked, frowning. Six hundred and seventy two had sounded like it must be enough to buy almost anything. "Are you sure?"

The store clerk nodded sadly, and Nanako bit her lip. _Well, _she thought reasonably, _there are lots of other cakes. I'll just get one that doesn't cost so much. _

Still, that one pretty, expensive cake looked so perfect standing there in the midst of all the other almost-delicious looking sweets. Nanako sighed.

"It's for my Dad's birthday," said Nanako." Um…what's the best cake that I can get for six hundred and seventy two yen?"

"Huh? Oh, for your Dad? Oh, I see." The clerk looked surprised, then glanced back at the row of cakes, and frowned. He sat for a moment, then shrugged, laughed under his breath, and pulled a few yen out of his own pocket.

"Well," he told Nanako, "Tell you what. I'll give you the cake, okay?"

Nanako's eyes went wide. "R-really?" she asked, almost afraid to hope.

The clerk held up a cautionary finger. "But," he told her, "you have to make me a promise. You have to promise that you're going to make your Dad's birthday very, very special for him, okay?"

Nanako nodded solemnly. "I promise!" she announced. "Yeah! Of course!"

Grinning, the clerk reached down the cake for her.

She would have run all the way to the police station, except for the fact that the cake was heavy, and she definitely did not want to drop it. It was a long, slow, careful walk to the bus stop instead. When the bus arrived at the station, Nanako wondered if she should try hiding the cake. She attempted to put it behind her back, but that made her fee unstable, and again she was afraid to drop it.

Luckily for Nanako, while she was standing in the lobby, trying to figure out what to do with her purchase, Detective Adachi strolled up, looking bored. He started at the sight of Nanako, and then hurried over to her, just in time to catch the cake as it fell, finally, out of her hands.

"Whoa, what's this?" asked Adachi. "Oh, uh, I mean, Hi, Nanako-chan. Are you looking for your Dad?"

Nanako nodded. "Thank you, Adachi-san," she murmured politely, letting him place the cake down on top of a counter where it was slightly more stable. "Is he here? I have a present for him!"

"I think he's out on patrol," mused Adachi. "But he'll be back soon, probably. Wait, a present? Is it a special occasion?" Adachi was giving the cake a very hungry look. Nanako carefully interposed herself between it and him. _No cake for you, _she thought. _Not until Dad gets back. That's how birthdays are supposed to work! Sorry…_

"Yes," she said. "It's his birthday! Didn't he tell you?"

Adachi scratched his head with two fingers. "Not that I can remember," he replied. "His birthday? You know, sometimes that's a thing that adults don't like to talk about. You know, because it means they're getting older, and…that's bad."

Nanako wrinkled her nose. "Why is it bad?" As far as she knew, getting older was something to celebrate. It was something that happened every year, and the celebration was something exciting, to look forward to.

"Uh, good question," muttered Adachi, frowning. "I guess because every time you get older, you get a little closer to the end, right?"

"The…end?" asked Nanako. "You mean…dying?"

Alarm bells began ringing in Nanako's mind. _How old is Dad? _she asked herself. _Forty one? Forty two? He's forty two, I think? Does that mean he's very old? No, forty two isn't very old. Old Mrs. Tatsumi and Old Mr. Daidara are both a lot older than that, and they're just fine._

A horrible, frightened little voice in the back of Nanako's mind, however, added, _But Mom was even younger than Dad when she died. You can be young and die, too. _

"Uh, hey, wait, that's…that's not what I meant!" insisted Adachi frantically. He must have seen the upset look on Nanako's face, because his forehead was starting to sweat now, as he shook his head furiously, hold his hands out in front of him in a gesture of denial. "I mean, there's nothing wrong with Dojima-san. Hey, he's one of the healthiest guys I've ever met! He's got more energy than most of the newer guys put together! So, uh, don't worry, he's not…I mean he's not old. He just…uh, jeez, this is kinda complicated."

Nanako did feel a little bit better, even if Adachi was starting to turn red in the face. _Yes, _she decided. _Dad isn't old, and he isn't sick. _"Do you think he won't like the cake?" she asked.

Adachi breathed out a little sigh of relief. "He'll love it," he assured her. "I mean, hey, it comes from his only daughter, right? What's not to love? Oh, why don't you come wait at his desk until he gets back? Doesn't seem right to leave you standing here, cause…honestly, it could be a while. Sometimes it is."

As they walked back together through the station, with Adachi now holding the cake.

"Do you have paper?" asked Nanako. "I can draw a card to go with the cake. It can be from both of us, if you want!"

"That's pretty nice of you, Nanako-chan." Adachi grinned at her. "I, uh…I've got paper, but then I've just got a pencil."

"Oh." Nanako knew she should have bought some more crayons or colors at the store. _But I used all my money on the cake!_ she reminded herself.

"A pencil is fine," she agreed, smiling back.

Adachi looked at her for a moment, sighed, glanced around the room, and then called out, "Hey! Does anybody here have any crayons?"

Several station employees looked up from their desks, and frowned disapprovingly at Adachi for interrupting their work.

"Yeesh," he muttered "I was just asking…"

Two people from nearby desk donated red and blue colored pens, and Nanako set to work on her card while Adachi apparently did some paperwork. She had to use four pieces of paper, because she kept messing up and wanting to start over. When she accidentally made an ugly flower on her fourth try, she didn't like the idea of asking for yet another blank sheet, and frowned unhappily down at the mistake, wondering if there was something else that she could turn the ugly flower into.

"It's no use," she sighed to herself. "I'm bad at art…" _Next to the pretty cake, _she thought, _the card is going to look so bad. It's going to spoil the whole birthday. _

Adachi sighed. "Hey, can you keep it down? I'm trying to work, here. Um…here, let me see that.," he mumbled, snatching the paper away from her. Nanako looked up in some embarrassment. She hadn't even realized she'd said any of that out loud.

"What are you trying to draw?" he asked.

Nanako pointed hesitantly at the ugly flower. "A flower," she mumbled. "But I can't…it always comes out looking stupid." She knew that she was not supposed to use the word 'stupid,' but right now, she was very angry at that ugly flower. She felt justified in her word choice.

Adachi whipped another piece of paper out of his desk, and leaned over it, scribbling something with his tongue stuck between his teeth. After only a minute or so, he put the pencil down and slid the paper over to Nanako. "There," he announced. "A flower."

Nanako gazed at it in wonder. It was a cartoon flower, like she might have seen on a TV show, but it was perfect and symmetrical, just like the strawberry pattern on the cake. "Wow," she breathed, beaming up at Adachi in admiration. "It's beautiful!"

Adachi looked startled. He scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably, muttering, "It's, uh, it's not that great."

"No, it is!" insisted Nanako. "You're great at art! Can you put color in it? I want to make it red. Oh, and can you make another one?"

"I…really need to finish this stuff," began Adachi, gesturing at the papers he'd been working. Dojima-san's gonna be really mad if I don't finish it by the time he gets back."

"Pretty please?" begged Nanako. "I promise I'll help you finish your work!"

Adachi gave her a tired little smile. "Nah, that's…that's okay. I doubt there's much you can do for me, here. Um…just one more flower, okay? Y ou said you wanted a red one?"

Adachi began scribbling away on his piece of paper again. Nanako squirmed in anticipation.

_Dad is going to be so excited! _she thought.

**Three hours later…**

Nanako yawned. Next to her at the desk, Adachi slammed a binder closed, and stood up from his chair.

"That's it for me today," he announced, stretching both arms up over his head. "Oof, that feels good, after being stuck in that chair for hours. What a drag…police work my ass…oops!'

Looking over at Nanako, he frowned. "Uh, that's not a word you should say at home, okay?"

Nanako rolled her eyes. "I've heard it before," she informed him. "Dad says it when he's angry a lot."

For some reason, Adachi laughed.

"You need to go home," he informed her, grabbing his jacket off the back of the chair. "I don't think Dojima-san would want you to be here when there's no one else around. Besides, you'd get bored."

Nanako nodded. "You're right," she agreed. "But…Dad never came back."

The cake was still sitting on the desk, now with the card folded and placed neatly on top of it.

"He'll probably be home when you get there," said Adachi, sounding a little bit less confident than he looked. "I mean, it's his birthday, right? So, there's no way he'd be out all night. Not on a day like today."

Nanako wanted to believe that. She tried very hard to believe it, but she was all too aware that there had been several holidays in the past for which Dad had never bothered to come home. _Maybe he won't come home tonight, either, _she thought sadly. _He'll forget all about his birthday, and then I'll have to wait till tomorrow when the cake won't be as good or as fresh. That'd be a shame._

"Hey, come on, don't look so sad." Adachi shook his head. "Seriously, even if he does get home late tonight, won't that make the surprise even better? I mean, after a long day of pounding the pavement, who wouldn't want a piece of that cake? He'll be super happy, trust me."

Again, Adachi was eyeing the cake greedily.

"Would you like some cake too, Adachi-san?" asked Nanako. "You've had a long day."

"Wha-? Nah, that's…that's your Dad's birthday cake," stammered Adachi quickly. "I mean, there's no way we can cut it open until he gets here."

_But he might never get here, _thought Nanako.

"Why don't you come back to the house with me?" she asked. "If Dad's already there, then we can all celebrate together. I think he'd really like that."

Adachi grimaced. "I'm…not so sure he would," he muttered. Again, he glanced over at the cake. "Uh, jeez…I guess that'd probably be better than making you walk home by yourself, though, right?"

"Right!" agreed Nanako.

Adachi shrugged. "Hard to argue with that," he muttered. "Uh, okay, sure. But in that case, we're gonna drive. I don't want to carry that thing all the way home. Did you really drag that through the shopping district by yourself? I'm…kind of impressed."

Nanako beamed. "I'm pretty strong," she informed him.

"Guess so," mumbled Adachi. "Or maybe just way more dedicated than me."


	2. Two: October 4, 2011

**Two: October 4, 2011**

"So, you got big plans for tonight?" asked Adachi conversationally, while Dojima glowered down at some paperwork splayed out on his desk.

"Huh?" mumbled Dojima. "Big plans? Shut up, would you? I'm trying to concentrate."

"Hey, I'm just asking," muttered Adachi. "I mean, I figure if you're gonna leave early or something, you should probably tell me, right? I'm the one who's gonna get stuck with all the work you don't finish…"

Dojima sighed heavily, and turned the glare on Adachi. "What are you talking about? When the hell have I ever left early?"

Adachi waited a moment, trying to figure out if there was any chance that Dojima was joking around. _Not like that's something he knows how to do, or anything, _he thought ruefully.

"You have totally forgotten what day it is today, haven't you?" asked Adachi. He waited while Dojima frowned, glanced over his shoulder at the wall calendar, and shook his head.

"It's October fourth," said Dojima. "Why would I that be any…"

_3…2…1…_thought Adachi, counting off on his fingers below the desktop.

"October fourth," mumbled Dojima again. Then his eyes widened suddenly, and his jaw dropped open. "Goddamnit," he bellowed. "How the hell did I…? Ugh, I really haven't been getting enough sleep. Today's the most important day of the year! It's-!"

"Nanako-chan's birthday, sir," interjected Adachi smoothly. "Yep. I figured you'd forget."

Dojima muttered nervously under his breath. "Why'd you think a thing like that? It's not like I've ever forgotten before."

Adachi found that frankly difficult to believe. _Then again, _he reminded himself, _when her mom was alive, it was probably her job to keep track of birthdays and parties and things like that. That kind of shit is usually woman's work anyway. Guess I can't fault him too much for forgetting. He's a busy guy, these days…no thanks to me. _

Oddly enough, that thought made Adachi feel strange and vaguely uncomfortable. It wasn't that thinking about the murders bothered him. On the contrary, he'd stopped dealing with issues of guilt over the murders months ago. Recently, the game that he was playing against the Inaba police department had started to get more and more exciting, even fun. It was turning into the one thing that kept him from falling asleep at his desk or at the wheel of the car on his way home from a boring job to the shitty, mundane basement room he was renting.

_Still, though, _he thought, remembering the delighted look on Nanako's face as she'd presented him with a slice of cake months ago at the Dojima residence, _there's no reason that the kid's gotta miss her birthday…not because of me, anyway. I mean, isn't that pretty much the only thing kids that age live for? Birthdays, and presents, and stuff like that? Yeah, I don't wanna be that guy…_

Dojima was still muttering to himself. "There's no time," he was saying, running his hands through his thinning hair and looking frazzled. "Damn, if only I'd gotten started on this yesterday. Hah, who am I kidding? I don't even know where to start. What do you even get a seven year old girl as a birthday present? She's got enough dolls, and…"

"What's Nanako-chan's favorite color?" asked Adachi.

Dojima gave him a helpless look. "Pink maybe? She does like that one pink dress her mom got her."

"Okay, then." Adachi made a note of that on a post-it, and stuck it in his pocket. "So, she likes pink dresses. That's a start. Tell you what; I'll stick around here and finish up this crap we've gotta hand in by the end of the day. Thank me later. You get over to Junes and find a pink dress you can get your daughter for her birthday."

Adachi felt that he was making a huge sacrifice, agreeing to do extra work just so that Dojima could finish an errand he'd put off for too long. He was, in fact, pretty impressed with his own ability to play the Good Samaritan, and was just getting ready to congratulate himself on being a classy, stand-up guy when he saw the miserable, stricken look on Dojima's face.

"What is it now?" Adachi asked.

"I have…no idea how to shop for a girl's clothing," mumbled Dojima. "And…uh…look, I can't go into the women's' clothing department at Junes."

Dojima's face flushed uncharacteristically, and Adachi was surprised. _Didn't think he was the type to get embarrassed about ladies underwear, or whatever else you find in the women's section. Hah. Seriously. _

"The saleswomen in that section know me," continued Dojima miserably. "They…they're very sympathetic. They, uh, they're always very eager to talk to me when I'm in there…about Nanako, and about my late wife, and…um…"

Adachi raised an eyebrow. "Oh," he said, nodding. "I get it. You've got that whole 'emotionally-damaged single dad' thing going on, right? Yeah, women do really seem to go for that."

Briefly, Adachi contemplated the possibility of bringing Nanako along when he went shopping, to see if he could use her to help him drum up some female attention. _Then again, _he reminded himself, _this town is tiny. Everyone around here knows Nanako, so they'll know she isn't my kid. Wouldn't do me any good._

"I really hate going in there," Dojima said, sighing.

Adachi shrugged. "Fine, sure, I hear you. Then let's do it another way. You stay here, do MY paperwork, and I'll go get the dress. Sound good?"

Now it was Dojima's turn to frown. "Yeah…yeah, that'd work fine. Actually, I'm surprised you didn't suggest that in the first place. It's not like you to offer to take on more responsibility."

"Hey, how was I supposed to know you'd go for it?" Adachi laughed. "Anyway, what size dress do I get?"

Dojima made some notes for Adachi on an index card, and after pocketing the card, Adachi gleefully took his leave of the station.

He couldn't believe his good luck. He pretty much had free reign to go where and do what he pleased for the rest of the afternoon, so long as he came back with a present for Nanako-chan. _So Dojima-san's intimidated by the salesladies at Junes, huh? There has got to be a way that I can use that. I mean…I could probably make this a regular thing, running errands at Junes so that Dojima-san doesn't have to. Man, if I'd only figured this out a little bit sooner, this year would probably have sucked a lot less. _

It made sense, he thought, to buy the dress first. Then he could do whatever he wanted with the rest of his day, without worrying that he'd have to go back empty handed. With that in mind, Adachi strolled over to the store, imagining all the different things that he could potentially get to eat after his errand was over.

"Uh, hi there!" he told the saleslady at Junes who was in the process of restocking a display of women's athletic socks. "So, I'm looking for a birthday present for a little girl. She really likes pink, and dresses. Does, uh…does that sound like something you can help me with?"

The saleslady yawned, gave Adachi a bored look, and then pointed. He followed her finger, and spent a few moments staring in surprise and horror at the vast array of children's clothing, one entire rack of which seemed to consist of pink, red, and white frilly and lacey things.

"Oh boy," he muttered, running one hand through his hair. "This is maybe not going to be as easy as I thought."

One little girl with blond ringlets and a red jumper was tugging on her mother's arm, pulling her inexorably closer and closer to the rack of frilly dresses. "Mommy, mommy!" insisted the girl, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. "I want this one! Please, pretty please?"

As the mother led her disappointed child away from the display, Adachi walked over and glanced at the price tag on the dress that the child had wanted.

_Holy crap, _he thought. _I don't remember the last time I paid this much for a pair of pants, and Nanako-chan is half my size at least! Shouldn't her clothes cost half as much? At least?_

"Uh, excuse me," he called out to the saleslady. "Do you guys have a sales rack, or something? Maybe a discount bin?"

The saleslady gave him a disdainful look. Again, she pointed, and again, Adachi followed her finger to a rack full of children's clothing. This rack, however, was very different. There were dresses of all different colors hanging on it, none of which looked particularly appealing, and some of which had pieces of fabric hanging off of them in odd places, or strange pictures planted across the chests or on the sleeves. There were no children trying to coax their mothers into buying them anything off of this rack.

One piece of pinkish orange lace on the sales rack caught Adachi's eye, and he rooted around until he found the price tag. It wasn't exactly something that he could imagine Nanako wearing, but it did, essentially, fit the description "pink dress."

_Hey, _he thought, seeing the much more modest price. _That's more like it._

Grabbing the dress and slinging it over his arm, he nodded his thanks to the saleslady, and started over towards the checkout counter. As he walked past the rack of pink, frilly confections, however, he hesitated, frowning to himself.

**That evening, at the Dojima residence…**

"Where the hell did Yu get to?" grumbled Dojima, taking yet another look out through the front windows. "Doesn't he know what day it is, today?"

_Is that supposed to be some kind of joke? _wondered Adachi wryly. Nanako was happily eating a piece of the cake which Dojima had apparently picked up on his way back from the office.

"Well, Nanako?" asked Dojima. "Are you ready to open your birthday present?"

Nanako's eyes lit up like the sun had come shining through them, and she jumped to her feet, the cake abandoned and forgotten on its plate. "A present?" she gasped. "For me? Really?"

_Even a present, _thought Adachi, with a twinge of annoyance, _shouldn't make a kid THAT excited. It's like she really didn't expect to get one. I wonder if she thought he was gonna forget her birthday, too. Man, that's…wait, aren't kids supposed to be entitled? Yeah, at that age, they're supposed to think the world revolves around them. Something tells me Nanako's never been like that. Maybe she's never had the opportunity. Jeez. _

Dojima handed the Junes bag across to Nanako, and she gave him a sunny, delighted smile as she carefully lifted the dress out of the bag.

"Oh, wow!" she breathed, unfolding the dress and running her fingers along pink ribbons and layers of white lace. "It's so beautiful! Thank you, Dad! Thank you so much!"

Dojima looked extremely pleased. He gave Adachi a rare, satisfied smile. "Don't thank me," he said, "Thank Adachi. He's the one that picked it out for you."

"Uh…wait, no, it's not like that," began Adachi quickly, a bit embarrassed. "I mean, I just looked at what the other kids were buying, and…"

"Thank you, Adachi-san!" Nanako laid the dress carefully down on the carpet, and ran over to give Adachi a big hug around the knees. Adachi stood very still, uncertain what response was expected of him. After a moments' hesitation, he reached down and patted Nanako on the head.

"You're welcome," he mumbled. "But, seriously, the present came from your Dad. I just picked it up at the store...cause, you know, he had work to do."

Nanako released him, but continued to smile. Dojima gestured at the dress on the floor.

"Go on," he suggested. "Why don't you try it on?"

"Okay!" Eagerly, Nanako gathered up the dress and darted off to her own room to change.

While Nanako was upstairs, Dojima cut himself and Adachi each a piece of cake. "I'd say you've definitely earned yours," he informed Adachi benevolently. "Honestly, I wasn't so sure about sending you on this mission…but I'm glad it all worked out. I'll have to remember that you've got a talent for this sort of thing."

"Uh…right." Adachi ate his cake, and didn't argue.

A few moments of basically companionable silence passed. Then, Dojima coughed, and bit his lip.

"I'll have to pay you back at the end of the week," he mumbled. "Can't say I have that kind of money on me, right now. I really figured you'd pick something out of the bargain bin. That's usually what I do. Uh, please don't tell Nanako I said that."

"Yep." Adachi sighed. "I had a feeling…"


	3. Three : February 1, 2012

**Three: February 1, 2012**

On the morning of the first day of February, Nanako ran downstairs and threw the front door open to find that it was snowing again.

"Oh," she thought. It was maybe the first time in her life that she'd ever been disappointed by too much snow. _I wonder, _she asked herself. _Can they still deliver mail in the snow? I think so…_

Dad was still asleep, and so Nanako tiptoed carefully back upstairs, opened up her desk, and began rummaging around through the morass of crayons and little plastic toys, searching for the pad of shiny pink paper that Yukiko had given her as a "welcome home" present. It was an Amagi Inn desk pad, and it had the words "Amagi Inn," printed in little black cursive letters at the top of each page. Nanako thought it looked very beautiful and adult. So far, she'd only used one page. She had decided that this paper wasn't for coloring. It was only to be used on special occasions.

Nanako's teacher had once explained to her that pink crayon didn't show up on pink paper. It took her several minutes to find a crayon that wasn't pink, and then as soon as she found it, she frowned and dumped it back into the desk drawer.

_Crayon is for little kids, _she reminded herself. _Besides, I don't even know if he likes pink. Black pen is probably safer…but I have to be really careful if I don't want it to smudge!_

With that in mind, Nanako wrote the following message very, very carefully, and very, very slowly;

_Dear Adachi-san,_

_Happy Birthday! _

_I bet you thought I would forget, but I didn't! I remember that you told me when it was. _

_Do you know what? It is snowing here! It is so pretty! Is it snowing where you are, too? _

Suddenly, Nanako stopped and frowned to herself. Then she bit her lip, and started writing again.

_Oh, but is it very cold where you are? Dad says that jails are very cold. I hope the snow does not make it too cold. They should give you lots of blankets. _

_I wanted to give you a cake, but I think that would get squished in the mail. Sorry! We will have one when you get back, okay? _

Uncertain exactly how to end her message, Nanako paused again. There was something that she knew she wanted to say, but she wasn't quite sure how to say it. She was worried that if she strayed too far from her original plan, she might end up writing words that she wasn't sure how to spell, and that then Adachi would laugh at her, like he did when she said things like "shoe" instead of "stew."

"What would Dad say?" she asked herself, chewing thoughtfully on the end of her pen. "Oh, I know…there's something he always says when I get in trouble. Um, I don't really know how to spell it though. Well…I guess I can try."

Removing the pen from her mouth, she continued to write.

_I am not angry anymore. I was, but now I am not. Sometimes people make mistakes, and that is okay. _

_I love you anyway. I promise. That will never change, because we are family. _

_So you can come home now._

_I will not be mad. _

_Really!_

To emphasize the "really!" Nanako drew a big heart with a smiley face on it. This, she decided, could be pink. Hearts were pink. She colored it in.

_So, happy birthday and see you soon,_ she finished.

_Love, Nanako_

She read the letter over several times until she was sure that she was satisfied with how it had come out. Then she grabbed up the paper and hurried downstairs again to search for an envelope.

It was while she was reaching for the stack of business envelopes that were inexplicably sitting to the left of the kitchen sink that Yu came wandering downstairs, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"Nanako-chan?" he asked. "What are you doing up so early?"

Nanako proudly showed him her letter. "It's Adachi-san's birthday," she informed him. "I'm finding an envelope to send this in!"

Yu frowned. "I see." He spent a moment reading the letter over, and Nanako was a little worried about the way his face darkened the further he got down the page.

"Um, Big Bro," she asked. "Is…is it okay? Did I do it wrong? I can do it again…"

Yu shook his head. "No, Nanako, it's very good," he reassured her. "You spelled everything perfectly. It's a very good letter." He still, however, did not look happy.

"Then…what's wrong?" insisted Nanako.

"It's just.." Yu looked as though he were going to explain, then sighed, shook his head, and shut his mouth again. "No," he muttered, although it seemed to Nanako as though he were talking to himself and not to her at all. "No, there's no point…why spoil it?"

"Big Bro?" inquired Nanako.

Yu focused his attention on her again. "Nanako-chan, I'm sorry," he said gently. "I don't think we can send this."

Nanako was startled. "But…why?" she asked. "You said it was a good letter!"

"It's a beautiful letter," agreed Yu, placing a comforting hand on Nanako's right shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with it. I think he'd be really happy to receive it from you. Unfortunately, we're not allowed to send mail to this kind of jail. The people in charge there won't let him get any letters. "

"But…it's his birthday!" Nanako reminded Yu.

"Even," countered Yu quietly, "on his birthday. I'm sorry, Nanako. Those are the rules. It was very sweet of you, though, to think of him. I'm sure he would have appreciated it."

Giving Nanako's shoulder another reassuring squeeze, Yu returned upstairs to his own bedroom, leaving Nanako staring unhappily at the letter in her hand.

"But," she repeated, to no one at all, or maybe to the cruel world at large, "it's his birthday."

The snow continued to fall on the other side of the window. Nanako spent a few minutes watching it, frowning, and thinking about blankets.


End file.
